A Nixa man faces two misdemeanor counts for illegally killing wildlife after he was caught on video running over a goose with his car, backing up and hitting it again.

Kristopher Sonntag, 35, told state investigators he was just "joking around" when he ran over the male Canada goose twice with his girlfriend's van, according to the Springfield News-Leader.

His story changed as agents from the Missouri Department of Conservation pressed him about the dead goose. Sonntag blamed his driving on the car, saying he lost control of the van because it is his girlfriend's, not his. Then, he blamed the goose.

"[Sonntag] later stated he thought the goose would move, but it did not," the probable cause statement says.

When asked why ran over the goose twice, Sonntag says he was "checking to see if it was dead and that he didn't think he hit it again," according to the News-Leader.

Harassing, killing or bullying migratory birds is a Class A misdemeanor, per the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Little did Sonntag know, a Springfield machinery company caught his act of ornithological homicide on the security cameras aimed at its parking lot.

"Honestly, I couldn't believe someone purposely tried to hit the goose," says Debbie Eisner, the general manager at the company, Grizzly Industrial, to the News-Leader. Eisner found the dead goose last month and checked the security cameras to see how it died.

Canada geese -- the only goose species that nests in Missouri -- were nearly wiped out by hunters here by the 1930s, according to the conservation department. New rules and protection efforts allowed the species to grow to 1.5 million geese in 2002. Signs in the neighborhood around Grizzly Industrial warn people of nesting geese.

One female Canada goose was keeping a nest near Grizzly Industrial, Eisner tells the News Leader. The male goose Sonntag allegedly crushed under his girlfriend's van -- twice -- had been hissing at people and chasing cars to protect the nest.

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ok....so ...i never condone killing an animal by running over it with a car, but....i will say some of these geese are very aggressive. Usually, it is after people have ignored warnings not to feed them. Out of frustration people may feel justified to kill a goose that has become overly aggressive. It has happened at places where I have worked in the past. I know at St. Luke's Hospital, they used to have a pond with a lot of geese around it. The geese would literally chase you up the sidewalk all the way to the door. It amounted to about 200-300 feet dead run uphill. People would kick the geese, throw things at them, or just stand there and scream until someone else would come to their rescue. It was a bizarre thing to watch.

Not to support what he did, but they're protected? Seriously, far as i know, in the United States, Canadian geese are considered an invasive species, who'd want to protect that? Oh wait, i live in MO now, 'nuff said.

Yet caught on tape will not pertain to any result of criminal prosecution in springfield mo. Where a cop was caught on tape by walmart security cameras. Yes i am glad one injustice is brought to life. But what is more important? The truth behind the murder of a goose? Or the shot in the back murder of a sick man? Dont answer for me, but for yourself.

If you can't muster up sensitivity for a animal then honey, you have much bigger problems. You're a bully and trust me, if you have anger issues like that, then their are deeper darker issues and eventually will affect a human being. what he did was senseless and cruel.